Semana Santa: Antigua Style

When we weren’t climbing volcanoes and exploring volcano surrounded lakes, our Guatemalan home base was the colonial city of Antigua. 

Shopping for some artesania.

 

We arrived to Antigua late Tuesday evening, tired and worn out from horseback riding followed by a bus trip through Guatemala.  That said, when we first arrived at our hostel, Jungle Party, we weren’t ready to face the nuances that they don’t mention on the website, i.e.: 3 showers for all the guests, video cameras in bedrooms, no credit cards.  Where’s the party we were ready for?  

After partaking in some refreshing Guatemalan beers, a nice change of pace from the light Honduran offerings and a plato tipico (salad, grilled chicken, crema, black beans, tomato salsa) things started looking up.  Those of us with renewed energy decided to head out with some new hostel friends to explore the city.  I was pretty excited at the possibility of being able to safely head outside after dark.

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The next day we slept in and enjoyed some hostel breakfast before heading out to explore town a bit.  Antigua is a beautiful, colonial town and the architecture/quaintness of everything reflects that.  We headed into the central park, which was lined with flowers, trees, and fountains.  Lacey and I continued to explore a bit and found the famous La Merced Church.  

La Merced

In front of which was a bustling market of street food.  We all headed back out to enjoy our first round of the Guatemalan Food Tour: cheap, delicious, native Guatemalan food.  Perfection.  I began my tour with a mango and bean and cheese pupusa, probably the best I’ve ever had. 

Altar for Jesus

Inside of La Merced

We explored La Merced for a bit.  I was awed at the beauty and cultural ways in which they adorned their church and statues.  In front of both Mary and Jesus were offerings made out of fresh fruits and vegetables.  The church itself had a very natural, clean beauty to it and the statues were marked by pale skin and intense facial expressions. 

Sweets at the food tour

Chile relleno, enchilada, sandwich

PUPUSA

Later in the week we returned to explore all that Antigua offers.  We headed back to the street food for rounds 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the food tour.  As the week progressed and more tourists arrived to enjoy the Semana Santa celebrations the more food seemed to appear.  This lead to pure enjoyment of tamales, churrasco (grilled meat), etol (a warm corn drink), arroz con leche, chocolate plantains, chile relleno, gringas, enchilada (a crispy tortilla with a cabbage salad, chicken, hard boiled egg, and beets), more pupusas, tortilla sandwiches, churros, honey bread pudding, and much more. 

Churrasco

Street food

Exploring colonial ruins

Antigua is home to some amazing artesania.  We spent an afternoon enjoying all the main plaza has to share.  We got hair wraps and shopped around, perfecting our bartering skills as we chose which pieces of weaving and craftwork to purchase.  It was beautiful to see all the detailed embroidery work, weaving, and hand stitched crafts. 

Traditional weaving

 

That afternoon our walking tour of Antigua lead us to a beautiful scenic lookout spot.  The view of the entire city before us was worth the hike up the mountain on our sore and tired volcano climbing legs.  Antigua sure is beautiful: surrounded by volcanoes and filled with colonial charm. 

 

 Antigua comes alive during Semana Santa as it hosts Central America’s largest celebration.  The celebrations include the combination of religious processions and the making of alfombras.  All afternoon and into the wee hours of the morning on Holy Thursday alfombra (carpet) makers were busy at work.  Using real flowers, brush, twigs, and colored sawdust, different groups of people design intricate “carpets” on the streets of Antigua.  The carpets vary in their purpose and design.  Some display a biblical scene such as Jesus on the cross or Adam and Eve.  Others reflect the group of people making the carpets such as a gray-toned carpet for a funeral parlor and a carpet about books for a bookstore.  Others simply display intricate symbols and designs.  All are beautiful.  Thursday night the town just doesn’t go to sleep.  Everybody stays up making the carpets and preparing for the big processions to begin.  We walked around town marveling at the beauty of the carpets.  At one point Deirdre, Laura, and I found a couple of guys making a carpet and asked if we could join.  It was surprisingly a difficult task to shake and sprinkle the correct colored sawdust into the stencil.

That morning around 4:30 am we all met up at La Merced church to see the main procession head out.  It was beautiful with music playing, candles, incense, and of course large statues of Mary and Jesus.  There must be at least 100 people carrying these large statues and platforms.  I had the opportunity to experience this in Spain and was super excited to experience Central America’s version.  It’s very similar.  The major difference I noticed was that in Spain the processions are typically candlelit.  In Guatemala, they push along a generator to use lights.  Funny how that works out. 

 

Friday and Saturday evening were spent exploring more of Antiguas artesania, looking at alfombras, watching processions, and exploring the city.  Antigua is full of life, charm, and great food.  Plus the Semana Santa celebrations are absolutely fantastic.  Different and cultural, it was a great way to spend Easter enjoying community, the joy of traveling, and a recommitment to the joy of an Eastering faith.